Something To Think About: A World’s Thanksgiving

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving in the U.S. However, I would like to offer a post for a World’s Thanksgiving. I would like to offer a tribute to Stanislav Petrov, a Russian, whose calm, rational thinking prevented WWIII in 1983.

An anti-ballistic warning system issued several alarms, indicating that the U.S. had fired a missile towards Russia. Petrov kept his cool and reported the warnings as false alarms. Later, it turned out that a cloud clover had caused a malfunction in the system.

Stanislav Petrov is no longer with us, but we can be grateful and proud that such a man was there at such a critical time. Let the whole world give thanks to this Russian hero.

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About Robert M. WeissFrom an early age, I've taken great pleasure in reading. Also, I learned to play my 78 player when I was quite young, and enjoyed listening to musicals and classical music. I remember sitting on the floor, and following the text and pictures of record readers, which were popular in the 1940s and 50s. My favorites were the Bozo and Disney albums. I also enjoyed watching the slow spinning of 16s as they spun out tales of adventure.
I have always been attracted by rivers, and I love to sit on a boulder with my feet in the water, gazing into the mysteries of swirling currents. I especially like inner tubing on the Rogue River in Southern Oregon.
Since my early youth, I've been interested in collecting minerals, which have taught me about the wonderful possibilities in colors and forms. Sometimes I try to imagine what the ancient Greeks must have felt when they began to discover physical laws in nature. I also remember that I had a special passion for numbers, and used to construct them out of stones.
After teaching Russian for several years, I became a writer, interviewer, editor, and translator. I continue to delight in form, and am a problem solver at heart.